Welt hook



Jan. 6, 1942. A AN 2,268,750

WELT HOOK Filed March 14, 1940 1 ashee'ts-sheet 1 Z /fi z #2 6.

Inventor .A yred Jigfrulnmvv Jan. 6, 1942. F A 7 2,268,750

WELT HdbK Filed March 14, 1940 a Sheets-Sheet 2 A; HOFMANN Jan. 6 1942.

WELT HOOK I Filed March 14, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor Q4 fired Hfimaruz Patented Jan. 6, 1942 WELT HOOK Alfred Hofmann, Palisade, N. J., assignor to Alfred Hofmann, Inc., West New York, N. J.

Application March 14, 1940, Serial No. 323,865

V 4 Claims.

The present invention relates to welt hooks and, more particularly, to welt hooks especially intended for use with automatic welt turning attachments of the types shown and described in co-pending application of Alfred Hofmann et al., Serial Number 257,772, filed February 23, 1939, and the co-pending application of Friedrich Max Waechtler et al2, Serial Number 304,492, filed November 15, 1939.

It is an important object of the invention to provide a welt bar with welt hooks constructed to permit the movement of the welt bar without interference from the sinker head and other parts of the knitting machine for the positioning of the hook ends on a substantially horizontal plane to assure a self-disengagement of the hooks from the loops in the transfer of the latter onto the needles of the knitting machine for effecting the turning of the. welt thereon.

Another important object of the invention resides in the provision of welt hooks so constructed that a welt bar supplied with such hooks may be swung about a pivot point located at the front of said welt bar and below the center thereof for the vaulting of the welt bar over the needles in a knitting machine for a gradual curvilinear motion with a minimum lift, and reducing the forward travel of the welt hooks to :a minimum to prevent possible interference with existing parts on the knitting machine.

The invention is particularly characterized by the provision of welt hooks in a welt bar, each hook having a double vertical band in its shank to form a stop for the initial sinker loops of the welt fabric at said bend in order to assure the I proper alignment of the loops for even and accurate transfer to the needles of the knitting machine after the knitting of the welt fabric and, further, to assure the proper engagement of the needle-beards with the hooks for facilitating the picking up of said loops by the needles.

The invention is moreover characterized by the provision of welt hooks in a welt bar, each hook provided with a grooved hook end section in its shank and having a double vertical bend in said shank to form a downward angular displacement of the grooved hook end section in relation to the remaining or butt end section of the shank so that the hook is vertically and downwardly displaced from the horizontal butt end section of the shank in order that the initial sinker loops may undergo a gradual retraction in an upward slanting plane towards the bend to be stopped thereby during the returning motion of the welt bar for transferring said initial loops on to the needles of the knitting-machine; that the hooks may be displaced into position for the return of the initial sinker loops to the needles by a reduced turning motion of the welt bar whereby to limit its travel towards the sinker head; and that excessive stretching or dragging of the initial sinker loops while retracting on the grooved section of the shank may be prevented.

Other important objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In order that the invention and its mode of operation may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, I have, in the accompanying drawings and in the detailed description based thereupon, set out a possible embodiment of the invention.

In these drawings Figure 1 is a top plan of a welt bar having welt hooks constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a welt hook constructed in accordance with this invention;

Figure 4 is a front elevation of the same;

Figure 5 is a section taken on line 5- -5 of Figure 4;

Figures 6 to 16 inclusive are somewhat diagrammatic illustrations of the sequence of movements of the welt bar in its welt forming operation;

Figure 17 is a view similar to Figure 14, but showing the parts on a considerably enlarged scale;

Figure 18 is a considerably enlarged reproduction of a portion of Figure 16.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein like characters of reference will designate corresponding parts throughout, there is shown in Figures 1 and 2 a welt bar Illcomprising complementary bar sections 12 and I4, one bar section I2 having a longitudinal recess l6, and the other bar section 14 having a series of spaced transversal grooves and holes such as represented at l8 and 20 respectively. The bar sections 12 and Il are rigidly held together by means of bolts 22, or like-fastening elements, that securely clamp therebetween a bank of welt hooks 24.

Each welt hook 24 preferably has the construction shown in Figures 3, 4. and 5, and essentially comprises a shank 26, a hook end 28. and a butt end 30. a portion of the shank and the butt end being respectively adapted to fit 28a and the hook end section 261) lying in two'- diiierent planes.

It is particularly to be noted that the butt end 30 and bend 32 extend in the same direction and are disposed at substantially right angular relationship to the butt end section 26a of the shank 25 and, therefore, are relatively positioned in paralleling planes, whereas the hook end section 26b of the shank 28 extends at an obtuse angle with respect to the bend 32 so that said hook end sec tion 26b. in addition to lying in a plane difierent from that of the butt end section 26a, lies in a plane angularly intercepting said butt end section.

The hook end section 26b of the shank 28 is provided with a needle beard receiving groove 34 formed at the normal front of the needle hook, that is, in the surface thereof facing in the direction opposite to that in which the hook end 28 projects. The groove 34, as more clearly shown in Figures 4 and 5, extends from the bend 32 towards the hook end 28. The welt hooks 24 which also serve as transfer elements are adapted, as shown in Figures 6 to 18 inclusive, for

cooperative action with the knitting needles N, 1

knockover bits K. and sinkers S mounted in the sinker head H of a flat knitting machine to. receive the loops of the initial course knitted by said needles and subsequently return said loops onto the needles for the formation of the welt.

In order that the .welt hooks 24 may receive sinker loops of the initial course knitted by the needles N of the knitting machine and return said loops to the needles, the welt bar It), according to the present invention, is capable of going through a sequence of movements. The sequence of the welt bar movements is illustrated in Figures 6 to 18 inclusive.

As shown in Figure 6, the welt bar I0 first undergoes a rectilinear horizontal forward movement to advance the welt hooks 24 towards the ward movement of the welt bar, the hook ends 28 of said welt hooks will pass between the needles in line with the sinkers S at a point between said sinkers and the knockover bits K to engage the initial sinker loops when they are cast 011 the sinker nibs.

As shown in Figure 7, the welt bar 18 then undergoes a rectilinear horizontal backward movement to retract the welt hooks 24 away from the needles N after engaging the sinker loops and accordingly draw-the welt fabric under tension while being knitted.

As shown in Figure 8, the welt bar l0 then undergoes a rectilinear slanting upward :movement towards the needles N to turn the welt fabric and bring the hook ends 28 of the well: hooks 24 on a plane above the heads of the neeof this movement to sidestep the welt hooks for their alignment with the needles.

As shown in Figure 9, the welt bar l0 then undergoes a curvilinear substantially forward movement towards the needles N to cause the vaulting'of the welt hooks 24 over the needles and continuing in a curvilinear substantial downward movement to place the welt hooks behind the needles where said hooks are held stationary until the needles go into position preparatory'to the transfer of the initial sinker loops back onto the needles.

As shown in Figure 10, the welt bar l8 then.} .undergoes a rectilinear substantially downward place said loops in position for engagement by I the needles, after which the needles rise and enter said initial loops (Figure 11) As shown in Figure 12, the welt bar l0 then undergoes a substantially rectilinear backward movement whereby the welt hooks 24 follow the movement of the needles N for placing the same in position preparatory to the unhooking movements.

As shown in Figure 13, the welt bar l0 then undergoes a substantially rectilinear vertical upward movement cooperating with the needle motion eventually bringing the loops under tension between the sinkers S and hook ends 28 of the welt hooks 24.

As shown in Figure 14, the welt bar "I then undergoes a thrust forward movement bringing the hook ends 28 of the welt hooks 24 into a substantially horizontal position preparatory tounhooking.

As shown in-"Figures 15 and 17, the welt bar l0 then undergoes a slightly vertical downward movement causing the hook ends 28 of the welt hooks 24, as best shown in Figure 17, to slip past the beards of the needles N, thus relieving the tension of the initial sinker loops for the instantaneous disengagement of the hooks from said loops.

The movements separately illustrated in Figures 14 and 15 are more or less simultaneous so that the positioning of the hook ends 28 into a substantial horizontal plane, the relieving of the tension on the transferred loops, and the selfreleasing of the welt hooks by their spring action for the unhooking of thehooks from said loops follow in rapidsuccession in the manner represented in Figure 18.

As represented in Figure 16, the welt bar then 1 undergoes a rectilinear horizontal backward movement away fromthe needles N to move the welt hooks 24 out of the knitting field; a curvilinear tilting backward movement away from the needles to place the welt hooks in their normal tal plane is possible because of the particular dies N, the welt bar being shifted during a part formation of the welt hooks 24, that is to say, the angular relationship of the sections 28a and 28b of the shank 28 and 01 the bent hook ends 28 are such that the sinker head H and other parts of the machine will not prevent or interfere with the full tilting movement of thewelt bar III for positioning the hook ends on a substantially horizontal plane as aforesaid. Also, it is to be noted that the pivot point about which the welt bar I!) swings in its movements to retion with a minimum lift of the welt bar and,

at the same time, reduces the forward travel of the welt hooks 24 to a minimum degree to prevent possible interference with existing parts of a full-fashioned hosiery knitting machine.

The formation of the intermediate portions 32 in the lengths of the shanks 24 constitutes stops for the retraction of the initial sinker loops of the welt fabric at said bends adjacent the grooved hook end sections 26b of the shanks 26 in order to enable said sinkerloops to line up for even and accurate transfer to the needles N after the knitting of the desired length of 'welt fabric and in order to provide for the free passage of the needle beards through the grooves 34 for facilitating the picking up of the initial sinker loops by the needles. 4

Moreover, the formation of said portions 32 provides for the downward angular positioning of the grooved hook end sections 26b of the welt hook shanks 2B in relation to the butt end sections 26a of said shanks, so that'the hooks are vertically downwardly displaced from the horizontal butt end sections 260 in order to enable gradual retraction ofethe initial loops towards the loop stop bends in an upward slanting plane, thus preventing excessive stretching or dragging of the loops when retracting on said grooved hook end sections 26b of the shanks 28 during the return motion of welt bar for transferring said loops onto the needles.

The formation of said portions 32 and relative angular relationship of the hook sections also provides for the placing of the welt hooks 24 into position for the return of the sinker loops to the needles by a reduced turning motion of the welt bar "I, whereby to limit its travel towards the sinker head.

Manifestly, the construction of the welt hook herein shown and described is capable of certain modifications without departing from the gist of the invention. Therefore, any modifications coming within the scope of the subjoined claims are to be considered within the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is: i

1. In combination with a series of knitting needles in a flat knitting machine, welt hooks for the needles adapted to engage and draw loops away from the needles and subsequently deposit said loops onto the needles, each of said hooks having a shank longitudinally engageable at one side with its associated needle and terminating with a hook end extending from its other side, the shank being adapted when in engagement with its associated needle for depositing the loop thereonto to move its hook end in a curvilinear path traversing the longitudinal plane of said needle, the hook end being disposed to extend at right angles to the length of the needle during said movement, whereby to slide out of said loop.

2. In combination with a series of knitting needles in a flat knitting machine, welt hooks for the needles adapted to engage and draw loops away from the needles and subsequently deposit said loops onto the needles, each of said hooks having a shank longitudinally engageable at one side with its associated needle and terminating with a hook end extending from its other side, the shank being adapted when in engagement with its associated needle for depositing the loop thereonto to move its hook end in a curvilinear path traversing the longitudinal plane of said needle, the hook end being bent at an angle with respect to the shank to extend at right angles to the length of the needle during said movement, whereby to slide out of-said loop.

3. In combination with a series of vertically extending needles in a flat knitting machine, welt hooks for the needles adapted to engage and draw loops away from the needles and subsequently deposit said loops onto the needles, each of said hooks having a shank vertically engageable at one side with its associated needle and terminating with a hook end, the shank being adapted when in engagement with its associated needle for depositing the loop thereonto to move its hook end in a curvilinear path traversing the longitudinal plane of the associated needle, and the hook end. being bent to extend horizontally with respect to the needle during said movement, whereby to slide out of said loop.

4. In combination with a series of vertically extending spring .beard needles in a flat knitting machine, welt hooks for the needles adapted to engage and draw loops away from the needles and subsequently deposit said loops .onto the needles, each of said hooks having a shank vertically engageable at one side with its associated needle and terminating with a hook end, theshank being adapted when in engagement with its associated needle for depositing the loop thereonto to move its vhook end in a curvilinear path traversing the longitudinal plane of the associated needle whereby. the hook end crosses from the beard side to the plain side thereof, and the hook end being bent to extend horizontally with respect to the needle during said movement. whereby to slide out of said loop.

ALFRED Hermann. 

